De peur que versus pour que?

Jennifer

Kwiziq community member

13 February 2017

2 replies

De peur que versus pour que?

I wonder if yoy could write il viendra de peur que tu ne sois pas vexée as il viendra pour que tu ne sois pas vexée and if so translate it as he will come so that you will not be offended.
I am just trying to work out how the subjunctive works out in english.

Aurélie

This sentence "Il viendra de peur que tu ne sois pas vexée." is very weird in French, as it means "He'll come for fear that you won't be vexed." .

"Pour que" here marks a purpose "in order for you not to be vexed / so that you won't/wouldn't be vexed".
Using "de peur que" could work here, but it would bring a nuance of meaning, as it would be saying that he's anxious that you'd be vexed, rather than he's acting to avoid your vexation.